Money week

Sunday Herald, The, Feb 15, 2004

bad news of the week Fifteen million UK women face a low-income future because they are less likely to save or make proper pension provision.

According to NOP World research for Halifax, only 54% of women surveyed had cash-based savings against 57% of men. And only 35% of women held investments, compared with 42% of men, with 65% of the women claiming they could not afford to or did not have the spare cash to save or invest. Though 34% of men had a pension plan, only 27% of women had one.

quote of the week "Self-certification mortgages can be appropriate in certain circumstances, although our review has shown they are a small proportion of overall lending. Lenders' controls appear to be adequate in this area. We would remind consumers that it is a criminal act to lie on their application forms. They know how much they earn, and should state that clearly."

The Financial Service Authority's Philip Robinson in the review on the provision of self-certification mortgages carried out following allegations that consumers had been encouraged to commit fraud by regulated institutions. The FSA review found that, with such mortgages only accounting for 6% of UK mortgages, current lending controls were appropriate and that the number of those with repayment problems were not unusually high.

fine of the weekThe Financial Services Authority fined Berkeley Jacobs Financial Services (pounds) 175,000 for misleading advertising and serious failings in advice it gave to consumers to release cash early from their pensions. The independent financial adviser, bought by the IFG Group in 2000, was accused of showing a "blatant disregard" for the interests of up to 5000 customers by trying to release more cash from customers' pensions than was needed or wanted. Berkeley Jacobs has put (pounds) 1 million aside for possible compensation and an internal review.

make the banks pay A new website has been launched to help people upset about charges levied on them by their banks or building societies. The site, www.stopthecharges.co.uk, provides a range of free and charged services that allows customers to send formal letters of complaint and report banks which fail to respond. It also names and shames the worst charging offenders.

next week ...

Standard Life results. Bradford & Bingley, the UK's fourth- largest estate agency, unveils its full-year results on Tuesday. The Council of Mortgage Lenders will release the mortgage lending statistics for January 2004 on Thursday.